


You Can't Fly With Only One Wing

by aretia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Multi, Pining, she/her pronouns for black lion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-18 00:31:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12377280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aretia/pseuds/aretia
Summary: Shiro seeks the Black Lion's advice to help him make an important decision: whether to ask out Allura or Matt. Black ends up helping him more than he would like.





	You Can't Fly With Only One Wing

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this after season 2, around late March 2017. If you're a long time Shallura fan, you know what happened in late March. I never felt like the time was right to post this. But with Matt finally returning in season 4, it's as good a time as any. I tweaked it a little bit to fit with season 4, but it's not canon compliant: this is the original season 1/2 Shiro, and Voltron has returned to its original formation after the switch.

_Something is on your mind._

Whenever Shiro was overwhelmed by emotions that he didn’t want to divulge to another person, he went and sat in the Black Lion. She could read his deepest thoughts and there were no boundaries between them, so he didn’t have to spend the energy to put his thoughts into words.

He liked to respond out loud to her telepathic questions when he was alone in the hangar, however. “Well, yeah. I’m thinking about how Zarkon—”

_Not that. Something else._

Shiro was embarrassed, but not at all surprised that Black had picked up on that. He couldn’t stop thinking about Allura’s smile, and Matt’s laugh, and the galaxies in Allura’s eyes, and the hug Matt had given him when they reunited. His mind was a jumble of affectionate images that Black replayed back to him to show that she was very aware of how distracted her paladin was during their so-called bonding session.

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to stay focused." 

_Do not apologize. Your thoughts are mine._ Her voice in his head wasn’t so much a voice as an idea, but when she paused, he heard nothing but profound silence.

_You love them, don’t you?_

“N-no!” Shiro stuttered reflexively. Then he realized this wasn’t Lance poking him in the shoulder and asking him if he had a crush on somebody. This was his lion, and there was no point in trying to hide anything from her. “I mean, yeah. I think so.”

_Why don’t you, as you Earthlings say, date them?_  

“It’s not that simple,” Shiro sighed. “Trust me, I’d love to. But think of what it would do to the team. Princess Allura, and me, the Black Paladin. We’re supposed to be their leaders. What kind of example would we be setting, getting distracted with romance in the middle of a war? And Matt is Pidge’s _brother._ I love the both of them to death, but it might make things awkward between us if I were dating him.” 

_Or perhaps your love would inspire them and bring them closer together as a team when they see the way you fight for each other._

Shiro made a dismissive noise with his lips. He covered his mouth in apology for being disrespectful, but Black didn’t seem to mind. “That’s encouraging, I guess. But then I still have to figure out _who_ to ask out.”

Shiro shifted back and forth in his seat. “I think I should go with Matt. He’s my best friend, and he’s so funny and sweet. I had a crush on him for years, but I never told him about it, and then we were captured by the Galra and I thought it was too late. Now that I’ve found him again, I can’t let him go.”

Shiro groaned, “But Allura is so beautiful, and so strong. And she lets herself be vulnerable around me, which is really cute, and it makes me feel safe around her too.”

Black had been quiet for a while, contemplating. Shiro looked up desperately at the ceiling. “This is so hard. Just tell me who I should choose. Look in my head and tell me who I really love more.”

_The answer is clear to me._ Shiro looked hopeful for a second. _You love both of them equally. Why do you insist on making a choice?_

“If I don’t, it wouldn’t be fair to them,” Shiro responded. “They’re the most important people in my life. I’m not going to cheat on them.”

_As long as you’re honest with them, it’s not cheating,_ the Black Lion reassured him. _It isn’t fair to you to force yourself to choose. You can’t fly with only one wing._

“Thanks, Black. I’m sorry for wasting your time with this nonsense.”

_Shiro. You are my paladin. I want you to be happy. Anything that makes you happy and strengthens our bond is not a waste of time._

“Thank you.”

 

 

The Black Lion was insufferable for the next few weeks. Every time Shiro piloted her, she needled him about whether he had asked out Matt and Allura yet, which of course he hadn’t because he never had the time. The other paladins could tap into his thoughts when they formed Voltron, and he had to do everything in his power to get her to shut up. He was beginning to wish he had opened up to Lance about his dilemma instead. Even he wouldn’t be this obnoxious. 

He was especially dreading their upcoming mission.

“We’ve found a planet with an advanced civilization that wants to ally with us in the fight against the Galra Empire, provided we introduce ourselves and our lions,” Coran announced to the team. “Unfortunately, due to the delicate honeycomb of flora that grows all over the surface of the planet, there is nowhere for the castle to land. Your lions should be small enough to maneuver their way to the surface. I’ll keep the castle in orbit, and you all will fly down to meet them.”

“Hey Allura! The Blue Lion misses you. I think she wants you to come with me,” Lance said with a smile. 

“Matt, I can show you all the cool upgrades I did on the Green Lion!” said Pidge.

Allura and Matt agreed to the respective paladins who had asked them, but Shiro knew something was up as soon as the Blue and Green Lions wouldn’t open up for them. Lance tapped at his lion’s mouth, and Pidge waved at Green, but they wouldn’t budge.

Shiro stood in front of his own lion, giving her a weary look. _Really, Black? Really?_ She _would_ get the other lions in on her infernal matchmaking plot. But they would never get moving if he didn’t play along, so he did what he had to do. “Hey, uh, Matt, Allura. The black lion’s the biggest, so it’ll be the most comfortable with more passengers. You can fly with me if you want.”

Matt shrugged. “Alright.” He walked over to Shiro and the Black Lion. As soon as he moved away from Pidge, the Green Lion opened her mouth. Blue opened up too, and Pidge and Lance went inside their lions.

Shiro lied. The black lion was the biggest lion, but the cockpit was no bigger than the others. He was about to be in close quarters with his crushes, inside the very robot who would make him acutely aware of that.

Allura and Matt soon discovered that there were no passenger seats in the Black Lion, and the only place they could stand comfortably without leaning on an important button was right behind Shiro’s chair. Allura folded her arms over the back of the chair, and Matt leaned his hand on the armrest. Both of their arms were brushing against him and Shiro couldn’t breathe. Just survive this. Just one peaceful flight down to the planet. 

No way Black was going to let that happen.

_Now is the perfect time to tell them how you feel, Shiro._

Now was absolutely not the time and she knew that. They were on an important mission. But his _ever_ loyal, _ever_ caring lion wouldn’t let a little thing like saving the universe get in the way of setting her paladin up on a date.

_You’re alone with them. Pidge isn’t around to make fun of you like you were worried about._

“You’re not listening to me,” Shiro muttered under his breath, his voice strained.

Allura placed her hand on his shoulder out of concern. “Shiro, is everything alright?” she asked. She thought over the words he had said and gasped. “Shiro, is Zarkon trying to take control of the black lion again?” 

“I’ll run the scanners to see if there are Galra ships nearby,” Matt said, and shoved past Shiro to the controls.

One reason why Shiro usually chose to speak to Black out loud was that when he used his telepathic connection with her, it was hard for him to focus back on the real world. He heard Matt and Allura’s voices as if they were distant from him, and he couldn’t respond.

“Nothing on the scanners,” Matt reported. “He must be out of our range. But we have to warn the other paladins that we’re on his radar.”

“Agreed,” said Allura. “Shiro, can you send them a message? Shiro?”

_If you’re not going to do it, I’ll have to take matters into my own claws._

Shiro was blushing feverishly and sweating. “Don’t you dare,” he snarled.

Matt and Allura looked at each other in alarm, then looked at Shiro between them. They each took hold of one of his hands, hoping to pull him back to reality.

Shiro felt the frequency in his mind change as Black extended her telepathic connection to the two passengers. 

_MATT HOLT AND PRINCESS ALLURA! WOULD YOU CARE TO ENGAGE IN COURTSHIP WITH MY ESTEEMED PALADIN, TAKASHI SHIROGANE?_

She released him from the trance, but it was too late. The life drained out of Shiro and his shoulders slumped. His face, fire red from his forehead to his chin to the tips of his ears, collided with the dashboard. This was it. Keith would have to lead Voltron again. Shiro was packing his bags for the astral plane and never looking back.

Shiro turned his chair around, hiding his face in his hands. “I cannot believe the nerve of this quiznaking lion, going behind my back…” He ran a hand through his tuft of white hair and pulled his head up to make eye contact with Matt. “Oh well. No turning back now,” he sighed, and said weakly, “Will you go out with me?”

Allura and Matt exchanged wide eyed glances. “Who are you talking to?” Matt asked. 

“Both of you! Didn’t you hear what the lion said?” Shiro groaned in exasperation. 

“Uh, Shiro?” Matt said. “I don’t know if you know this, but Allura and I are already dating.”

“What?” Shiro murmured in disbelief. Yet in hindsight, it should have been obvious. He should have seen it coming from the way Matt looked at Allura the first time he met her. He was too late. He’d been so preoccupied with choosing between them that he hadn’t even noticed the possibility that neither of them liked him back. They liked each other, and while Shiro would try his best to be happy for them, he still felt his heart break. “So that’s a no, then?” he asked, defeated.

“No, not at all!” Allura backtracked, trying to mend the frown on Shiro’s face. “We were trying to find a way to ask if you would join us in our relationship. We didn’t know that you were waiting to ask us, too!”

Shiro looked up at them and glanced from Allura to Matt. “You mean you both like me too?”

“Yes!” they said in unison. They embraced Shiro in a tight hug, pulling him up out of his chair. He reached his arms around both of their shoulders and hugged them back. The fire in his face ignited again when Matt and Allura each gave him a peck on the cheek. 

Shiro turned his head to Allura first, and kissed her on the lips. He wove his hand into her lush hair and trailed his fingers over the smooth skin of her neck. He was just beginning to lose himself in it when he heard a small pleading whimper in his other ear. He broke the kiss with Allura and brought his lips to Matt’s, still feeling Allura’s cheek nuzzling against his. Matt’s lips pressing into Shiro’s and his hand cradling the back of Shiro’s head felt more urgent, bringing back the days in the Galra prison and the words they never had the chance to say.

The black lion shook and threw the three of them onto the floor in a pile. They had crashed into one of the branches woven around the planet.

_Shiro, I love you, but please return to your pilot seat._

Shiro grumbled petulantly at his lion. “This is your fault.”

_And I don’t regret it._


End file.
